'Other' Constructional and Allied SystemsManuals and Brochures

The Meccano Construction System has spawned an enormous number of competitors over the years. Some made a virtual like for like clone whilst others were of a completely different concept together with all shades in between. There are very few systems that pre-date Meccano and those that do are very simple systems.

On this part of my website, I have downloads of a variety of manuals and other literature for some of these 'Other' constructional and allied systems. Also included in this section are some of the other systems by Meccano Ltd - Dinky Builder, Aeroplane Constructor, Motor Car Constructor, Elektron, Kemex, Speed Boats, System X etc.

Note that some system names have been used several times. In order to identify the separate systems, a suffix number in brackets is added to these. Also some systems which had distinct differences in different periods etc. are also listed separately with suffix letters. To avoid confusion, these suffixes are the same as in the MCS (Metal Constructional Systems) database produced by Tony Knowles.

MCS (Metal Constructional Systems) database

The MCS (Metal Constructional Systems) database produced by Tony Knowles is now available on this website. It covers all known metal constructional systems. It can be displayed and searched on several parameters on its own dedicated page. In addition all the metal construction system pages now include their entry from the database.

There are many modern simple sets sold by a variety of manufactures, which use Eitech type parts. These are all categorised as 'Polylong' type systems in the database. A list of these systems is available via the menu above. Note that whilst some of these names appear in the MCS database, many do not.

MCS (Metal Constructional Systems) Books

In the 1980s and 1990s Frank Beadle and Don Blakeborough published a series of Metal Construction Systems (MCS) books. These books have not been updated since around the mid 1990s when Frank Beadle died. They therefore are a little out of date. They were also produced on a photocopier and consequently many of the pictures are rather poor by modern standards. However they do contain much useful information which probably is not easy to get otherwise. I have therefore scanned in the whole of Frank Beadle's MCS books.

The available system MCS documents can be downloaded or viewed from the MCS Book page. There can also be viewed on the relevant system manual pages and links against the relevant database entries.

Additional manuals/systems

If anyone has manuals/brochures that they would like to add to this collection, please contact me. This collection of scans only scratches the surface of what has been made over the years and I would like to make it as comprehensive as possible.

14 June 2019 : There was a mix-up with Merkur in that some of the downloads were actually of the short lived German Merkur(2) system. This has now been corrected with entries for both systems.

27 May 2019 : The Metal Constructional Systems (MCS) books originally published by Frank Beadle and Don Blakeborough have now been added to this website.

23 May 2019 : The MCS (Metal Constructional Systems Database) has now been added to this website. There is both a dedicated database search page and also the relevant entry is added to all metal constructional systems. Info on 'Polylong' type sets also added.

26 December 2018 : Trix has been split into three pages - Trix[1] (Germany), Trix[2] (UK) and Trix[3] (France) to align better with the MCS database, which it is hoped to shortly have on this website.

22 December 2018 : By courtesy of Urs Flammer, scans/photos of the 'Miniator' system have been added.

21 December 2018 : More scans of old 'Marklin' manuals have been added. Also some of the transitional Meccano-Marklin period. Also Marklin Elex and Marklin Minex have been given their own separate pages to align with the MCS database.

10 December 2018 : By courtesy of Denis, scans of 'Metall Baukasten mit Batterie-Motor' have been added